S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
The Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 2025-27 elections will be held on November 1. After more than a year, the election environment of the chamber has created a new vitality among the business community. The business community of Sylhet is full of election atmosphere.
According to chamber sources, after the political change on August 5, the then president of the Sylhet Chamber of Industry, Tahmin Ahmed, went into hiding. After that, this business organization continued under the leadership of acting president Faiz Hasan Ferdous. Later, five members, including the president and four directors, resigned in the face of demands from the members of the chamber. This created a deadlock in the largest organization of businessmen in Sylhet.
In this situation, the Ministry of Commerce appointed Additional District Magistrate Farzana Akhter Mita as the administrator on December 10 last year to keep the chamber’s activities running. After that, preparations for the elections began.
Two panels have been formed to participate in the upcoming chamber elections, ‘Sylhet Sammilit Bazari Parishad’ and ‘Sylhet Bazari Forum’. 42 candidates from the two panels are campaigning with enthusiasm. Although the final list of valid candidates has not been published yet, they are exchanging views, distributing leaflets and conducting public relations with leaders of Sylhet city markets, shopping malls and upazila business organizations every day. This panel is led by president candidate Falah Uddin Ali Ahmed, senior vice-president candidate Humayun Ahmed and vice-president candidate Masum Iftekar Rasul Shihab.
The candidates for the post of director from the ordinary category are Akhtar Hossain, Enayet Ahmed Moni, Mohammad Shahidul Haque Sohelmujahid Khan Gulshan, Masnun Aqib Barubhuia, Zubair Ahmed Chowdhury Sumon, Dr. Nurul Hasan Siddiqui, Imtiaz Tahmin Subhan Babu, Abdul Hafiz Joarder Tuhin, Mohammad Enamul Haque Kuti, Mohammad Tofail Hossain Kochi and Abdul Basit.
The candidates for the post of director from the associate category are Chandan Saha, Abdur Rahman, Omar Faruk, Abul Kalam, Mashiur Rahman Hafiz and Nazrul Islam. The Sylhet businessmen panel is led by president candidate Ehtashamul Haque Chowdhury, senior vice-president candidate Enamul Quddus Chowdhury and vice-president candidate Nafis Zubair Chowdhury.
The candidates for the post of director from the ordinary category are Abdur Rahman Ripon, Motahar Hossain, Abdul Hadi Pabel, Syed Zahid Uddin, Imran Hossain, Abul Kalam, Khandaker Kawsar Ahmed Robi, Mazharul Haque, Nahidur Rahman, Kamrul Hamid, Shamsur Rahman Kamal and Abu Sufian.
The candidates for the post of director from the associate category are Ziaul Haque, Moktadir Hossain Tapader, Haji Mamunur Rashid, Dibakar Das Jhotan, lecturer Rehan Uddin Raihan and Ibrahim Khalil. On Wednesday, the candidates of the ‘Sylhet Sammilit Baziri Parishad’ panel exchanged views with businessmen from Sylhet city and Bishwanath upazila. Earlier, they met and held a meeting with business leaders from Jaintapur, Golapganj and Beanibazar upazilas.
On the other hand, on the same day, the candidates of the ‘Sylhet Business Forum’ panel distributed leaflets and conducted public relations at various business establishments in Sylhet city.
On August 4, the Chairman of the Chamber Election Board 2025 and Additional Deputy Commissioner (Education and ICT) Nur Zaman Chowdhury announced the election schedule. According to the schedule, the primary voter list was published on September 10 and the final voter list was published on September 21. The candidates submitted their nomination papers on September 30. The list of valid candidates will be published on October 22. If anyone withdraws their candidacy, the final list will be published again on October 27. Voting will be held on November 1 from 9 am to 3 pm.
Abul Kalam, a candidate for the post of Associate Director of the Sylhet Sammilit Business Council panel, said, ‘My main goal will be to create a business-friendly environment in The Sylhet Chamber and solve the problems of businessmen. I have been involved in the import and export business for more than three decades. Therefore, I will try to officially resolve the complications in this sector. I will encourage the participation of businessmen in VAT and tax activities. I will work to create new entrepreneurs through training of women and young entrepreneurs. I think that the activities of the chamber will be more dynamic if special initiatives are taken for expatriate entrepreneurs.’
Ehtashemul Haque Chowdhury, the candidate for the post of President of the Sylhet Business Forum Panel, said, ‘Businessmen have brought the chamber into this election process by agitating. The chamber had become ineffective due to the lack of elections for a long time. My goal is to turn Sylhet into a prosperous, business-friendly economic zone. My commitment will be to develop young people as entrepreneurs. In addition, I will take practical steps to develop the communication system and industrialize Sylhet to make it a tourism-dependent city.’
Falah Uddin Ali Ahmed, the candidate for the post of President of the Sylhet Joint Business Council, said, ‘I believe that the chamber is not just an institution, it is the collective voice of the business community. If I win, my goal will be to turn the chamber into a modern, progressive and business-friendly institution. “We will increase the involvement of young entrepreneurs, protect the rights of members, increase training and advisory services. We will also work to resolve the complications of border land ports. I am getting the support of businessmen, now I only hope for a fair election.”
